Boys used to line up outside therapist Jennifer Golick’s office door at the Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services center in Petaluma, waiting for her to arrive in the morning.

Scott Sowle, founder and executive director of the treatment center, said Golick was “one of the brightest I’ve known, always with a big, warm smile and just the right words to say.”

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Golick, 42, was one of three women killed Friday at the Pathway Home in Yountville by an Army veteran who had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder there.

She was still new to the center and joined as the clinical director in September, according to her Facebook page.

She spent the previous five years at Muir Wood, a residential care program that treats troubled boys.

“Jennifer helped countless families heal. I’ve heard from many of them today,” Sowle said Saturday. “Many of our alumni boys and families have reached out to me to convey how she changed their lives and restored their family system.”

She helped her colleagues at Muir Wood, Sowle said. He said another therapist had told him, “Jennifer changed me fundamentally at my core. She pushed me to be a better human being, trust my instincts, and make mistakes into teachable moments. She loved all of us and helped us be better versions of ourselves.”

Patricia Pike-Corkum, an addiction specialist, said, “You meet a lot of different people in this field that want to help others, but there are certain people who just have that special quality, and Jen was one of them.”

Friends and family gathered Saturday at Golick’s St. Helena home, where she lived with her husband and 8-year-old daughter. One family friend called her “a strong person. ... She could figure people out really quick.

“She was fun to be around,” said the friend, who asked not to be named. “Someone you can lean on.”

Golick’s father-in-law, Bob Golick, told the Associated Press that she had expelled the Yountville killer, 36-year-old Army veteran Albert Wong, from the Pathway Home PTSD program a few days ago.

He didn’t give a reason, but the Golick family friend said it was because “he was violent.”

“It’s just a horrible thing,” he said. “People with guns, right? There’s so much crazy stuff going on. There’s arguments for and against. And then there’s mental health. The irony here is that’s what Jen did. That was her job. Trying to help this guy.”

Golick said on her LinkedIn page that she had worked for over 16 years in clinical practice. She wrote that she was “facile in working with diverse populations, including chronically ill and mentally ill children.”

Golick graduated from UC Davis in 1998, and went on to get a masters at Sonoma State University and a doctorate at Akamai University in Hawaii. Her Facebook page showed her running in several races and attending Giants games.

“This situation is terribly sad, and our hearts and thoughts go out to Jen’s family,” said Kim Hale, spokeswoman for UC Davis.